1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a patient support table of the type having a patient support plate for a patient that can be adjusted along at least one axis, and an operating device to make or to initiate the adjustment of the patient support plate. The invention moreover concerns a medical apparatus that has such a patient support table. The invention furthermore concerns a method for operating a patient support table, in particular to adjust the patient support plate of the patient support table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Patient support tables, in particular patient support tables for imaging medical apparatuses such as computed tomography apparatuses or magnetic resonance apparatuses, normally have a patient support plate that can be moved along, or alongside, an axis relative to a base of the table, for example in order to bring a patient into an image acquisition region of the imaging medical apparatus with the patient support plate after positioning the patient on the patient support plate.
To move or adjust the patient support plate, the patient support table can have an operating device that includes a control lever like a joystick, for example. Both the direction of the adjustment and the speed of the adjustment can be set with the control lever. The adjustment movement itself takes place by an actuator of the patient support table that is connected with the control lever via control means and that adjusts the patient support plate relative to the base. If the control lever is arranged directly at the patient support plate, it advantageously influences the operator ergonomics since the operator experiences the adjustment movement upon operation of the control lever and in this way receives a direct feedback with regard to the adjustment movement. In order to be able to achieve this advantage, however, the control lever must be arranged at a location at the patient support plate at which the control lever interferes with the mounting and dismounting of the patient.
Alternatively, the patient support plate can be manually adjusted relative to the base of the patient support table. For this purpose, for example, the actuator can be separated from the patient support plate by a coupling. Depending on the embodiment, however, relatively large forces can be necessary for the adjustment.